Cheato Questions.

[kgravity]

This is my first post on a forum but I have had fowlr tanks for years and have been using biopellets for about two. I just started my first reef tank and want to keep Nitrates in Check without using carbon dosing. I will be doing regular water changes weekly but I do travel for work and I want to make sure that nitrates don't creep up on me to quickly.
So I would like to run chaeto but I have been unable to find any studies that show the actual removal rates of No3 or Po4. I know uptake and growth rates will be effected by Light/spectrum/flowrate/ tumbling vs stationary etc... but I was wondering if someone can point me in the direction of a study that could show "biomass of plant A removes nutrient Level B in a given time frame under specific conditions" instead of undocumented person opinions and experience.

Thanks and any help is appreciated.

[kgravity]

So no one knows about any studies like this?

[slowjazz]

Originally Posted by fckgravity

This is my first post on a forum but I have had fowlr tanks for years and have been using biopellets for about two. I just started my first reef tank and want to keep Nitrates in Check without using carbon dosing. I will be doing regular water changes weekly but I do travel for work and I want to make sure that nitrates don't creep up on me to quickly.
So I would like to run chaeto but I have been unable to find any studies that show the actual removal rates of No3 or Po4. I know uptake and growth rates will be effected by Light/spectrum/flowrate/ tumbling vs stationary etc... but I was wondering if someone can point me in the direction of a study that could show "biomass of plant A removes nutrient Level B in a given time frame under specific conditions" instead of undocumented person opinions and experience.

Thanks and any help is appreciated.

How big of a tank and sump do you have? you need a large amount of the stuff to do any real impact. Pretty much you have to light it 24/7 or atleast 12 or so hours. The more it grows, the more it takes out of your tank. (when you trim it out)

[toku58]

Originally Posted by fckgravity

This is my first post on a forum but I have had fowlr tanks for years and have been using biopellets for about two. I just started my first reef tank and want to keep Nitrates in Check without using carbon dosing. I will be doing regular water changes weekly but I do travel for work and I want to make sure that nitrates don't creep up on me to quickly.
So I would like to run chaeto but I have been unable to find any studies that show the actual removal rates of No3 or Po4. I know uptake and growth rates will be effected by Light/spectrum/flowrate/ tumbling vs stationary etc... but I was wondering if someone can point me in the direction of a study that could show "biomass of plant A removes nutrient Level B in a given time frame under specific conditions" instead of undocumented person opinions and experience.

Thanks and any help is appreciated.

Google! Is the direction you'll most likely find any study info. IF it even exist?

[kgravity]

My tank is the standard everyone seems to have of a 40 breeder with a 20long sump, but I also have a 29 gallon I may switch to.

I understand the process and how the no3 po4 removal process works and I have read other peoples examples and I know I would be limited in the removal amounts because of size.
Just for my personal education I was curious as to any information on specific values or standardized tests but there doesn't seem to be any studies I can find, googled it up too. It seems weird to me such a common practice would have so little scientific information but in any case thanks for the help guys I appreciate it.

[thegrun]

I doubt that the study has ever been conducted, there are way to many variables to make applicable to a wide range of tanks, so why take the time and expense to conduct the experiment.

[Crooked Reef]

If you want guaranteed results get a coil denitrater. Expensive but they work.

[Arc Drafter]

How long are you usually gone for work? I think the biggest issue you are going to have is expecting one thing to solve all of your nitrate problems. A nicely balanced system will be able to maintain a few weeks without a water change. I know of several people on this forum that stick to a strict 3 weeks between wc.

I have a 60G right now with 20g sump and 10g of it is separated for a fuge with a basketball size of chaeto. I have not measured my nitrate levels and monitored it how they are affected the chaeto.

[kgravity]

Arc Drafter-Usually I am gone for about 2 weeks at a time but some trips are back to back so a month is not out of the question. I try to make my systems as self regulating and balanced as possible and have most things automated so I am in the process of finishing wiring on my automated water changer now so I don't really think there will be any kind of issue. I had a fowl with inverts setup running skimmer biopellets and tons of live rock that I only did tri-monthly water changes and never had an issue besides salinity. Im just being over cautious I think since this is my first reef but with the auto water changer all of this is a moot point anyway

thegrun-I agree completely there are way to many variable but was just curious if someone had done a test that limited variable. Say had a bare tank of a specific amount of water with specific amount of nitrate with nothing in the tank contributing nitrate and just had a certain weight of tumbling/stationary chaeto at a certain flow and light amount/spectrum. Then harvesting chaeto frequently to make sure its size stayed constant and then calculated the nitrate removal rate. Like you said though there would still be so many variable to consider and this wouldn't be realistic for a normal system. Maybe one day I will do such a test just for kicks.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

but I was wondering if someone can point me in the direction of a study that could show "biomass of plant A removes nutrient Level B in a given time frame under specific conditions" instead of undocumented person opinions and experience.

There is no study that says how much it will grow in your system because there are innumerable variables, from N levels, P levels, Fe levels, other trace nutrients, light (intensity, wavelengths, photoperiod), flow, pH, alkalinity, etc. All play a role.

What is clearly known is how much the added biomass drops N and P, but that doesn't tell you how long it takes to grow that amount of biomass.

[kgravity]

Makes sense Thanks

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Happy Reefing.